While basketball will always reign supreme across Indiana, the southwestern pocket of the state has a better track record of producing impact professional athletes in baseball.

In fact, it’s not all that close.

Calbert Cheaney is considered to be the best basketball player to come out of the Evansville city or surrounding area (although Cody Zeller is well on his way). Cheaney – a Harrison High product – had a solid pro career but was never All-NBA and is celebrated far more for his days at Indiana University.

Take your pick from homegrown MLB stars: 1985 American League MVP Don Mattingly of Memorial High, seven-time all-star Scott Rolen from Jasper or former No. 1 overall draft pick Andy Benes, who twice finished in the top six for the Cy Young Award, out of Central High and the University of Evansville.

Of course, their pro journeys began with the amateur draft.

The 53rd annual MLB Rule 4 Draft kicks off at 6 p.m. CT Monday with the first two rounds at MLB Network Headquarters in Secaucus, New Jersey. It continues at noon Tuesday with rounds 3-10 and 11 a.m. Wednesday with rounds 11-40.

Every June for the past 25 years, there have been at least two players to be drafted out of the city or area.

Last year, Mater Dei High stole the show on Day 3, during which its softball team also won a state title. Three locals were picked and each are former Wildcats: Hunter Owen in the 25th round by the Pirates, Jackson Pokorney in the 29th by the Braves and Tyler Walsh in the 39th by the Rangers.

In 2015, Mount Vernon High’s Cody Mobley and UE’s Kevin Kaczmarski were chosen Day 2. That's important because starting on Day 3 the maximum signing bonus a team may offer is $100,000 without dipping into its bonus pool – a rule that was implemented in 2012.

Three years ago, Aces’ lefthander Kyle Freeland became the fifth-ever player from the city or area to be selected in the first round.

Colorado Rockies lefthander Kyle Freeland is 7-3 with a 3.34 earned-run average this year in his rookie season. Freeland was a first-round draft pick out of Evansville in 2014.(Photo: Jesse Johnson, USA TODAY Sports)

He went eighth overall to his hometown Rockies to join Benes in the club along with Wabash Valley College southpaw Gary Friedrich (1979, 17th overall by the White Sox), Harrison outfielder Tony Moretto (1975, 22nd by the Reds) and South Spencer High righthander Josh Garrett (1996, 26th by the Red Sox).

Each of the past few years are a wide-scale representation of perceived talent.

This week’s expert forecast calls for a repeat of a year ago. Baseball America magazine rated this Indiana draft class as two out of five stars and “not up to par” compared to what the state typically produces.

“The state of Indiana produced two first round picks in 2013, 2014 and 2015,” wrote BA managing editor J.J. Cooper. “This year will not come close to matching that production although Notre Dame does have a number of draftable pitchers.”

BA lists six Indiana players in its Top 500 and nine ‘other prospects of note’ – none of whom are from Southwestern Indiana.

The 6-foot-8 and 250-pound righthander is signed to continue his career at College World Series-bound Louisville. WVC coach Rob Fournier said the Mokena, Illinois native sat comfortably between 90-95 mph with his fastball this spring.

Jenkins spent his freshman year at Arizona State before transferring to the Warriors, who recently played in their first NJCAA World Series since 1988. Jenkins went 5-1 with a 2.28 ERA as a sophomore with 44 strikeouts and 27 walks in 43 1/3 innings pitched.

There are sometimes surprises, though, like last year with Pokorney. Strain and Schnieders have the best chances as college seniors with little to no leverage and sign for cheap.

As far as local-interest teams, the Reds have the No. 2, 32 and 38 overall picks on Day 1. The Cubs will select at No. 27 and No. 30 while the White Sox own pick No. 11 and 49 on Monday night.

St. Louis does not have any selections until the third round at No. 94 overall. The Cardinals forfeited their first-rounder with the free-agent signing of Dexter Fowler. They also had to forfeit second-round picks No. 56 and 75 to Houston after their former scouting director was found guilty of hacking the Astros' database that stems from 2014.